Tuesday, November 4

One of the first posts I ever wrote was entitled "Of Yankees and Yams." I recounted a humorous incident I had with a farmer in North Carolina. He had informed me (and I in turn informed you) that yams are really just an orange fleshed sweet potato. Since then, a few people contacted me explaining that they are indeed different. After months of exhaustive research (OK, more like an hour yesterday), I hereby unequivocally, resolutely declare that yams and sweet potatoes are different.

Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. Sweet Potatoes, often called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea or morning glory family.

Food Blogga Translation: Yams and sweet potatoes are different vegetables.
It turns out my local market has gotten it wrong too. What they have been labeling as yams are really red-skinned, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. Apparently, sweet potatoes' skin and flesh ranges in colors, and they come in "hard" and "soft" varieties. It is the soft varieties, which become moist when cooked, that are typically labeled "yams" here in the United States.

Again, the Library of Congress: when soft sweet potatoes were first grown commercially in the US, there needed to be a way to differentiate them from hard ones. Apparently, African slaves in America had been calling the soft sweet potatoes yams since they looked like yams from Africa. As a result, soft sweet potatoes became known as yams in the States.

Considering that the U.S. produced 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes in 2007, chances are you've bought some even if you didn't know it. And chances are that you're going to buy some for Thanksgiving too.

Whether it's sweet potatoes with marshmallows, sweet potato biscuits, or sweet potato pie, most of us will eat sweet potatoes this Thanksgiving. At my house it's going to be Olive Oil, Caramelized Onion, and Sage Mashed Sweet Potatoes. Though I typically drown my sweet potatoes with butter and brown sugar, I decided to go less sweet and more savory this time. Use a high quality extra virgin olive oil and the freshest sage you can find.

And if you find yourself arguing with gathered guests at your dinner table that yams are different from sweet potatoes, then feel free to cite this seminal article: Blogga, Food. "Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipe: Olive Oil, Caramelized Onion, and Sage Mashed Sweet Potatoes." Food Blogga 4 November 2008: Vol. 2.

Using a hand-held potato masher or an electric mixer, mash potatoes to desired consistency. Add the caramelized onions and the crisp sage leaves in olive oil to the potatoes. Season with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir until well blended. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt before serving.

I too had to research the difference when I cam here to Germany. In Qatar we often got yams from India but they were very different to the sweet potatoes we got here. I love both and this is a killer recipe Susan! The caramelized onion and sage does it for me!

Ah, thanks for the info :) We do get sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) but I don't know if we get yams other than the purple type (Dioscorea alata, or ube). That looks like a delicious, healthy side-dish! (go, complex carbs, heh :)

Thanks for some helpful information - I find sweet potatoes a little - um - sweet, so I like the sound of a more savoury dish with them (sweet potatoes and marshmallows sounds weird - but then I am not au fait with thanksgiving traditions!)

Hola Susan! A fantastic recipe! I always buy sweet potatoes for All saints day but never get to do anything with them... This recipe sounds super and I wonder if a red or normal onion would be ok. Also what about dry sage?

I taste-tested 'real yams' -- ones from Africa -- a year ago. They are VERY starchy, not at all like sweet potatoes. I took a few pictures here, here. I do really recommend the variety of sweet potato called 'Red Garnett'.

Thanks Susan, that was thing that had me perplexed as well. Yams which we knew in India were harder and bigger.Recipe looks fantastic as well. I want to try them with the purple sweet potatoes for the burst of color, but they are not as creamy as the orange ones.

I always wondered if there was a difference between the two, thanks for the explanation. I usually love the whole sweet potato casserole that is nearly dessert-like with all the brown sugar yumminess. It makes the best topping on a leftover turkey sandwich! Yes, we pile all leftovers on our sandwiches, including the corn casserole. :)

I think my mother not-so-secretly hated sweet potatoes, which is why she smothered them with dark brown sugar and marshmallows -- and only at Thanksgiving. I consequently learned to hate sweet potatoes, UNTIL I ate a simple baked one, in the skin, and fell in love. They are delish sliced and cooked in a heavy closed skillet with thin slices of apple or boiled and mashed (just the potato) and used to top a turkey/sprouts/bechamel shepherd's pie. THIS sounds like a holiday side dish guaranteed to draw compliments. Thanks for it, Susan. You always inspire.

Susan,I just woke up and saw your post, and thought "did I miss Thanksgiving? it was just election night?".You scared me for a minute.I make a sweet potato dish every turkey day, and it's tradition.Sweet Potato gratin w/ orange zest.SOOOO good!Stacey

Another great and gorgeous post, Susan. And when it comes to sweet potatoes [well, or anything other than a campfire], I say hold the marshmallows. The onions and sage sound like beautiful foils for the sweetness of the potatoes. One of my favorite uses of sweet potatoes is spicy roasted potatoes with a cayenne pepper kick.

Hi! I just have to comment, b/c this yam/sweet potato thing has me really baffled. I too live in San Diego (hi neighbor!) and when I go to buy sweet potatoes, for sweet potato fries or whatever, I always think in my head that they will have reddish orang-ish flesh. But, Ralph's & Von's always has white ones posted as "sweet potatoes" and pink ones posted as "yams." So then I think, "do I want Yam fries? Or sweet potato fries?" I even recently did an experiement & what was listed as "yams" was more like what I was thinking of as "sweet potato" & I couldn't get over that the white one was like a regular potato - just b/c of the color. Are you suggesting maybe they are labelled incorrectly? That's what I'm thinking now....

I've known that the two were different, but never bothered with the research - so thanks! I just know that I love them, no matter what they're called. And I gave up on the marshmallows after high school. This recipe looks killer!

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I can count on you for explaining all the minor details in the food world! great read, and the recipe looks yummy too! btw, I'm hosting the Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe event this month, and this would be a lovely addition if you could send it in Susan!:)

I love your yam/sweet potato info, but alas, I'll probably never keep the difference straight. I'm not cooking t-giving this year, but I really want to try this one anyway. I LOVE yams/sweet potatoes/whatever I happen to find!

OH SUSAN! You had me at hello... I never did get sweet potatoes with marshmallows (shudder) but I am indeed a fan of sweet potato oven chips with olive oil and fleur de sel - so the foundations for loving this savoury version are already laid. Sage is a wonderful addition :)

hi susani want to publish this recipe on my facebook page.i will love to see all of you as page fans for my exceptional olive oil facebook page.http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Ambrosiags-Extra-Virgin-Olive-Oil-by-Giesse/185689066010?ref=ts

Thanks for the recipe, I made this for my first dinner I cooked my parents (a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings). The only thing I had a little trouble with was the onions sliced were a little cumbersome when we tried to scoop out the potatoes. I liked them (it was more interesting) but my parents wanted them cut up. I recommend them though either way.